The Regional Concentration of Industries and the Performance of Firms: A Multilevel Approach

This paper presents the results of a study whose objective was to understand how location within industrial concentrations, like clusters or industrial districts, affects the financial performance of firms. In its theoretical framework, this paper attempts to introduce the reasons behind the alleged superior performance of firms located in these concentrations, the base of the hypothesis formulated in this study. Analysis from a three-level hierarchical linear model applied to a sample of 509 companies located in the state of São Paulo found no evidence that industrial concentrations provide firms with superior performance, contradicting expectations generated by the theory. The decomposition of the variance of performance indicated that the location of the firms and the form with which a city interacts with an industry exerts significant influence on how they will perform. In short, location matters to the future of firms. This finding underlines the need to understand how characteristics of cities or regions can promote or retard the performance of firms

Longitudinal attenuation in political polarization: evidence from COVID-19 vaccination adherence in Brazil

Background: While political polarization in policy opinions, preferences, and observance is well established, little is known about whether and how such divisions evolve, and possibly attenuate, over time. Using the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil as the backdrop, we examine the longitudinal evolution of a highly relevant and polarizing policy: adherence to the COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: Studies 1 (N = 3346) and 2 (N = 10,214) use nationwide surveys to document initial differences and subsequent changes in vaccination adherence between conservatives ("Bolsonaristas") and non-conservatives ("non-Bolsonaristas"). Study 3 (N = 742) uses an original dataset to investigate belief changes among conservatives and their association with asymmetric changes in vaccination adherence. Results: Despite substantial differences at the early stages of rollout, the gap in vaccination adherence between conservatives and non-conservatives significantly decreased with the passage of time, driven essentially by a much faster uptake among the initially most skeptic—the conservatives. Study 3 demonstrates that the asymmetric changes in vaccination adherence were associated with meaningful belief changes among the conservatives, especially about the perceived effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines and the expected adherence of peers to the vaccination campaign. Conclusions: Together, these studies show that, in a context where the superiority of the promoted policy becomes clear over time and individuals have the opportunity to revisit prior beliefs, even intense political polarization can be attenuated

Uma análise multinível do efeito país sobre o desempenho das firmas

A importância relativa de diversas origens da heterogeneidade do desempenho das firmas tem sido discutida em termos teóricos e testada empiricamente, com ênfase nos efeitos da indústria, da corporação, dos recursos idiossincráticos da firma e do ano. Este trabalho estudou a influência do país sobre o desempenho das firmas. Efeitos significantes e significativos do país e da interação indústria-país foram identificados. A amostra analisada incluiu mais de 80.000 observações e 11.000 firmas em 37 países e 256 indústrias em um período de 10 anos. Um modelo linear hierárquico com quatro níveis permitiu identificar que os efeitos país, indústria e indústria-país têm aproximadamente a mesma importância relativa e, em conjunto, quase a mesma magnitude do efeito firma. A relevância destes efeitos foi consistente entre as diferentes divisões do SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) assim como se manteve estável ao longo do tempo. Um modelo para explicação da variância do desempenho entre países foi proposto e estimado, em caráter exploratório, na análise da relação entre competitividade das nações e rentabilidade das firmas

IMPLEMENTAÇÃO DA ESTRATÉGIA: UM ESTUDO DE CASO DA INTERAÇÃO BSC – PNQ

Desenvolvido por Robert Kaplan e David Norton como uma ferramenta para a implementação e avaliação da estratégia organizacional, o Balanced Scorecard (BSC) apresenta um significativo nível de aplicação no meio empresarial. A interação do BSC com outras ferramentas gerenciais tem sido abordada no campo teórico e em alguns estudos empíricos, porém, de maneira escassa no contexto nacional. Este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever e analisar, em uma empresa finalista do Prêmio Nacional da Qualidade por dois anos consecutivos, um caso da aplicação do Balanced Scorecard como complemento a um sistema de gestão baseado nas categorias do Prêmio Nacional da Qualidade (PNQ), integrado a outras ferramentas gerenciais, tais como Seis Sigma e Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

Country image effect on product assessment: moderating role of consumer nationality

Purpose – This study investigates whether the magnitude of the effect of country image (CoI) on quality evaluation of foreign products varies across consumers from developed vs. from developing countries. Design/methodology/approach – French, Argentinean and Chilean consumers responded to an online survey. We employed a withinsubjects design in order to examine associate differences in CoI with differences in quality assessment. Findings – In agreement with previous studies, we found a positive effect of CoI on quality evaluations of foreign products. However, we found a non-significant moderating effect of consumer nationality, which contrasts with Hsieh (2004), who found that CoI effects were stronger for consumers from developing markets. Originality/value – While several studies have investigated factors that would affect consumers’ preference for domestic vs. foreign products, we took the relatively under-researched topic of whether there would be differences across consumers from developed vs. developing markets in the impact of country image on the evaluation of foreign products

Social Class Shapes Donation Allocation Preferences

When considering a charitable act, consumers must often decide on how to allocate their resources across a multitude of possible causes. This article assesses how the relative “urgency” of the causes under consideration (i.e., how critical to human survival the causes are) shapes preferences for specific causes among higher and lower social class consumers. Across a series of studies in a highly unequal socioeconomic environment (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), we demonstrate that lower-class consumers prefer to donate to urgent causes (e.g., alleviating hunger) compared to non-urgent causes (e.g., encouraging cultural activities), whereas the effect reverses among higher-class consumers. Contrasting experiences with scarcity across social classes vary the consumers’ intrinsic sympathy toward people’s unmet basic needs, which in turn shapes donation allocation preferences. Consistent with this theoretical rationale, class differences in charitable allocations decrease when (a) vivid contextual cues induce sympathy among both higher- and lower-class consumers or (b) the experience with scarcity is similar across social classes. Thus, although class differences in preferences for specific causes can be shifted with relative ease, our findings suggest that those who have the most to give do not spontaneously prioritize what is most urgently needed in society

STRATEGIES FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE IN RECESSIONS: PRO OR COUNTER-CYCLICAL?

Recessions are recurring events in which most firms suffer severe impacts while others are less affected or may even prosper. Strategic management has made little progress in understanding such performance differences. In a scenario of decreased demand, intensified competition, and higher uncertainty, most firms try to survive by pro-cyclically cutting costs and investments. But firms could take advantage of undervalued resources in the market to counter-cyclically invest in new business opportunities to overtake competitors. We survey Brazilian firms in various industries about the 2008-2009 recession and analyze data using PLS-SEM. We find that while most firms pro-cyclically reduce costs and investments in recessions, a counter-cyclical strategy of investing in opportunities created by changes in the market enables superior performance. Most successful are firms with a propensity to recognize opportunities, an entrepreneurial orientation to invest, and the flexibility to efficiently implement investments